Reed's Caddy in an "altercation"

[bladehunter]

Thanks @MtlJeff for HEARING what I was trying to say ,
but this thread honestly is a depressing look into the minds of the public. Just read the post above ^ it literally exonerates the fan completely while demonizing the person who was slighted. As well as letting us know that the abuse could and should have been worse.

stop and slow down people. Think. Are you really willing to applaud verbal abuse of one human while demonizing that same human for defending himself ? That’s exactly what you’re saying. All on the piss poor excuse of “ I bought a ticket”?
and I’m thought to be crazy ? Literally blows my mind.

[chigolfer1]

Yes, the fan is "exonerated" from having the caddie shove him (for saying you effing suck). You realize it's a pro sporting event and that players in every single sport are yelled at daily? It's not the caddie's place at all to touch him just like in any other sport.

[bladehunter]

Again. Slower. Why is this ok ? The shove doesnt happen minus the aggressor verbally attacking them. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And saying “ everybody does it “ doesn’t work for any other crime. Why this one ? I can’t walk into a store and walk up to the clerk and say loudly “ you efin suck “ without getting a ride down town. Not unless I run fast. At least not around here you can’t. Buying a ticket should not buy you a free pass.

[chigolfer1]

If something's not ok, then security and tourney officials can act. The caddie can tell them. It's a pro sporting event just like a baseball game. I'm not sure why you think the caddie has any right to assault a patron for yelling a pretty mild insult at a player. Do you think that should be what happens? Caddie's assaulting fans for taunting them? Like I said, if it was something completely inappropriate then we can discuss it but this was a generic, nothing pro sports taunt at a raucous team event. Why you think it's ok for a caddie to touch him is sort of astonishing to me.

[bladehunter]

Zero taunting is actually ok. Zero that’s what I can’t get across. Loud , sure , cheer for a bad shot sure. But taunting is a personal insult in nature. You Suck , you’re a bum , you’re wife’s a blank , kill yourself. All things that have been hurled. Among many more. It’s the height of hypocrisy to suggests that my being ok with slapping an idiot who does this is somehow barbaric and wrong and shouting these things at a person you don’t know isn’t. I’m not advocating striking a person who does nothing to you. I am however ok with stopping the verbal abuse by whatever means necessary. Cause and effect. Without the cause there’s no need for anyone to be upset. Why not fix the cause. Not treat the effect ?

 

And security ? Please. Obviously told to just keep them all alive so they can spend more $. If they were doing their jobs many more would get tossed before a player or caddie demands it.

Augusta national gets it right. And come to think of it. That’s in my neck of the woods. And the whole world raves about the experience. Why can’t the other folks figure this out ?

[Steele47]

Can't stand Reed or his windsock shirts so I think it's safe to say I can't stand his caddie either. But I certainly support Reed's caddie shoving an out of line ticket holder who asked for it. He asked for it and isn't entertainment (in this case a golf event) giving the people what they want?

[Sean2]

Didn't Tammy Wynette already cover this with "Stand by Your Man"?

[bladehunter]

Lol. Absolutely! But my favorite version will always be John and Dan.

 

[Sean2]

Great movie Blade, lol. And, I grew up in Joliet. :-)

[lefty1978]

I agree fans in the northeast are the worst, almost embarrassing. I grew up in Connecticut, just outside NY. I remember going to Yankees games in the 90's. I remember one game in particular against the Blue Jay's in 92 or 93, the fans booed the Canadian anthem, threw batteries at Joe Carter in rf and stole any fan wearing a Blue Jay's hat and threw it on the field. Its fortunately a lot tamer these days, maybe high ticket prices are not a bad thing.

[bladehunter]

Wow .

[aenemated]

I figure we can all agree being disrespectful to players is a shitty move. BUT it's a fact of life in professional sporting events and something that, as a professional, you not only need to expect but also be able to just ignore.

If he was physically assaulted - sure, I could get behind the reaction. But just being told "You fucking suck" and reacting in such a way is NOT how a professional handles it. Period. You get paid millions upon millions of dollars to play golf; suck it up and deal with it.

[OldTomMorris]

Anyone know if the PGA Tour has ever done this before? I can't recall something similar, in terms of forcing a caddy to sit out an event, for any reason. Apologies if it's already been answered.

[MattyO1984]

Fascinating turn of events but I genuinely have some sympathy for the caddie. Simply because the so called fan has bought a ticket, does not entitle him to behave like that. If I was in the office and a client sad that to me, I would be will within my rights to get them out. I am sure it is not the sort of thing that the caddie would have wanted to do and it being so hard to like Reed, it makes it easy to bash him but on this one, I have got to support him. Basically, it’s an unedifying incident but the caddie is not the one who instigated it.

[MattyO1984]

The closet that I can remember would be Stevie throwing the guys camera in the lake a few years ago. I don’t recall him receiving any punishment for that.

[bladehunter]

Yep. And there’s politics at work. In that situation , do you make your cash cow mad ? Nope. In this instance they simply did it to appease the drunken mob. Won’t be anything else come from it. If anything the players should gather and demand some tightening of the beer belt and of the security protocols.

[Hawkeye77]

And if there was anything, even a warning, guarantee they weren't publicizing. Don't think there was anything, though.

[Long Shot]

After the antics at the PGA, when there were no opposing team to jear, the way the fans reacted and behaved (the TV didn't do it any justice, it was so downplayed), I can't imagine how bad it will be at Bethpage when the Ryder Cup comes there.

[tbowles411]

Blade, I 100% agree. I actually posted something similar earlier. A ticket doesn't give you free license to do as you wish. If this is how fans think, then we should stop pretending that golf is somehow "special". The traditions of the game are dying. Some need to die, but this one where a fan should be somewhat respectful with at least silence. This is where the ET fan gets it 100% right. If the player is not liked, they do nothing.

As for Reed's caddie, there is a code of conduct out there. And it's there for a reason. But as a guy, you defend your man and he was getting it pretty good with some pretty rude stuff. He had all he could take. I probably would have done the same thing. I'm a fan of Reed's play, but his lack of accountability makes it hard to personally root for him now. But for his caddie, I'm personally willing to give him a pass for losing his cool.

[MtlJeff]

Minnie Driver in GoldenEye is pretty hilarious too. Considering shes pretending to be eastern european

[Dpavs]

Seriously? Do some of you really believe that name calling is justification for physical violence?

 

[bladehunter]

Purely depends on the context and circumstance . As in what physical posturing was presented by the aggressor? How close was he to the person he verbally attacked ? Some people value personal space more than others. Lots to consider.

[tbowles411]

I don't think anyone is justifying his action. I think people like me understand his actions.

Think of it this way. Your family member is being verbally berated at every turn in your presence or maybe even not. Your wife, your kid, or in this case your brother in law. You snap and shove a guy and people scream bloody murder how "unjustified" your actions were, totally ignoring the fact that they were instigating the offense. So, do you just shut up and take it and say, "Well, rules are rules. Sorry." or do you defend someone important to you? Should he have shoved him? Of course not. But would blame him for losing his cool? I'd defend my family or friend in a second.

[bladehunter]

Yes.

 

Does the calm me do it ? No. But you have to watch the me that’s been antagonized for a couple hours. He can be unpredictable. Then you factor in a family member ? Please. That’s a dangerous situation.

 

The answer it to stop the behavior that causes it. And it’s very doable. That’s proven each year at Augusta. The idiots are a small small minority, you won’t notice their penny when you lose it. And you won’t lose all of those. Most will follow the pack , so you lead the pack to acting right.

[MtlJeff]

I just think your question is faulty. One action is more wrong then the other, but we often frame questions like its zero sum. One person did something wrong so that means the other person was not wrong.

Both people are wrong. You shouldn't curse at someone for no reason and you shouldn't respond with violence.

 

 

[Mitchell]

While I understand the emotional reaction of the caddy, his error came when went back and confronted the idiotic individual after already having passed the scene of initial contact. There were other options available to address the situation, how readily available those were is unclear. However, as someone with extensive law enforcement experience and personal as well as corporate security experience, I would make some serious inquiry as to how staff required to protect both fans and players had such dereliction of duty to allow such an incident to occur in first place.

[jonsnow]

I don't consider it justification, but when you get right down to it name calling in some context is almost always the precursor to physical violence.

[bladehunter]

Exactly. Physical attacks on people who’s mouths are closed and minding their own business are extremely rare.

[Dave230]

There's no sport I know where you can get as consistently close to the player as golf. Most players don't acknowledge it when you are there because it's intimitating to have strangers right in your face as you play. Pretty much every other major sport is in a stadium where people are chanting, the spectators are above you or not in your eyeline. That's so much easier to concentrate in than quiet and then one person shouting. You always hear the line "well they are professional athletes" but not all sports are the same.

[Dpavs]

I understand what you are driving at but I don't think there was any real threat of harm or endangerment in this case. I hope we can agree that there is a substantial difference between name calling and verbal assault.